Chapter 5

"That's my sister's name," Shantala stated, pretending to be confused at the sudden call of Hyperion of her real name.

She saw how the crease on his forehead went away and was changed into a sweet smile. It gave her a shower of relief seeing that she managed to evade that close exposure of the truth. Just as she thought, this man had sharper senses so she truly needed to be careful with both her actions and words.

"Well, you once told me that she was always away from work. Are you disappointed that she did not attend our wedding?" he asked.

Shantala shook her head without saying another word. She just felt like if she commented on his statement, she might get exposed in no time. But in her mind, she said, “You actually married me so, of course, I attended.”

Hyperion simply nodded before going behind the counter and filling a glass of wine. He stared at Shantala as he took his first sip and once again noticed that she seemed to be spacing out. He could not tell what she was thinking but he had no ounce of wanting to know what was running in her mind. Shaking his head, he clenched his fist to suppress the anger building up inside him.

"Should we both go and see her, Stacey?" Hyperion asked, his voice still calm.

"That is not necessary. She is busy all the time so it would be impossible to get a hold of her."

"You once mentioned that every Sunday is her day off. And since I have no appointment tomorrow, we should go-"

Before he could even finish what he had to say, she cut him off as she turned in his direction.

"She is busy, okay? Plus, she doesn't want to see me after knowing that I got married even without her knowledge."

"Stacey, are you hiding something from me?" This time, Hyperion's tone was clipped and his eyes started to grow dark.

Shantala did not seem to notice his sudden change since she, too, was starting to get mad. She knitted her eyebrow and held her head high, ignoring the fact that Hyperion was walking in her direction.

"Of course not. It's just that forcing ourselves to her would do nothing good. Let us just cut her off from our lives and live the way we want to."

Hyperion opened the drawer beneath the counter and drew out a gun before aiming it right on the woman in front of him.

"Of course, you would find such an excuse that would totally reveal your secret, Shantala Vien Arceo."

Shantala flinched as she stood frozen facing the mafia boss. She could see the fury reflected in his eyes and after processing what was going on, she realized that she was cornered. There was no way she could fool the man pointing a gun at her. It had not been two days since their marriage but Hyperion already knew that she was no Stacey at all.

Could it be because she was acting way out of character? Or did someone tell him? Was it probably Klauss? Or it was also possible that Stacey had shown herself the moment Hyperion left the beach house?

However, no matter what the real reason was, she knew too well that she had to beg for her life or simply run away from that place to live. But the latter choice was less likely to happen, knowing that Hyperion would not hesitate to shoot her to death.

"Where is Stacey?" he asked, trying to control his emotions before he could shoot her.

"I do not know," she replied briefly.

Hyperion scoffed at her reply, not believing the words she was spouting. He almost got trapped in her web of deceit and if he won't tread carefully, he might get caught up in this woman's lies. Aiming at the flower pot just behind Shantala, he pulled the trigger, and a loud bang and shattering of porcelain filled the kitchen. He saw how the woman covered her ears and curled up on her knees after that. His sight settled on how her hands shook in fear, convincing him that he managed to scare her.

"The second bullet will go right into your head if you fail to answer my question," Hyperion said. "Where is Stacey?"

"I... I do not really know," she replied with her voice cracking up. "She-She was already gone several hours before your wedding."

"Stop with your lies! You may have deceived me at first but this time, you won't be able to make me believe your lies. I know how desperate you are for money so it is no wonder why you would hide Stacey just to be the person who would marry me."

Shantala rolled her eyes out of annoyance. She did not ask to be married to him because she wanted his money but because she had to do it again for the sake of her family. But explaining to the man in front of her would be of no use so she simply stood quiet as Hyperion yanked her up and forced her to go to the rooftop of the beach house.

When he pushed her to the edge, he fired his gun and the glass fence behind her shattered into pieces. The cold breeze of the sea blew her hair back and sent a shiver running down her spine as she was also greeted by the waves of the ocean making her hair stand on its ends. If she were to fall from that place, she would surely die not out of drowning but out of bleeding and broken skull and bones.

Just below the beach house, the raging waves of the ocean were crashing against the rocks seemingly warning anyone who dared venture out there would have a sure death.

She turned on her heels as slowly as she could but only to feel the gun of Hyperion right on her forehead. If he pushed her or even if she made one wrong move, she would surely fall.

"This is your last chance. Where is Stacey?" he asked with gritted teeth.

"I already told you that she went missing," she replied with a low tone of voice but it was still loud enough for Hyperion to hear.

He took a step forward to intimidate her more and to show that he would not hesitate to shoot her and let her fall to her death.

"You-"

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a gunshot from the first floor of the beach house. Still pointing the gun at her, Hyperion walked to the side to see who dared attack his territory. Just by the entrance, there were two vehicles having several armed men wearing black masks. He immediately backed away when one of the men noticed him but the very next second, they were rained with bullets. Not wanting to lose the person who had something to do with Stacey, he grabbed Shantala by the arm and they both entered the elevator leading to the basement.

"How dare you bring some men with you to try and kill me?" he growled at her with gritted teeth while tightening his grip on her arm.

Shantala tried to free herself from his hold but Hyperion was so much strong that she could only glare at him.

"Those are not my men. I am not a killer like you," she spat.

But Hyperion did not believe her words so he just dragged her to his car parked in the basement. That was their only way of escape from those men without getting killed. He pushed her to the front seat before entering the driver's seat and started the engine. And since he still strongly believed that those men were her lackeys, he aimed his gun at her once again.

"Call them off or you will bloody see your head busted."

"As I said, I do not know them! Can't you just believe me just this once?!"

Both of their attention was directed to the elevator that suddenly dinged open and the very next second, a loud boom echoed in the basement. This gave Hyperion no choice but to drive into the exit. He could not even call for his own men since it would be too late for them to come to his aid, especially since the beach house was a few hours away from their headquarters.

When their car passed by the vehicles of their attackers, it was their turn to be rained with bullets.

Shantala did not want to just sit there and wait for a bullet to kill her. Seeing that Hyperion could not drive while shooting their pursuers, she snatched the gun away from him and rolled down the window beside her. She anchored her foot on the seat so she could have a solid footing despite the moving car. Aiming at the driver of the van just behind their car, she fired the gun continuously and managed to shoot two men who had been firing in their direction.

"Fuck this shit," she cursed under her breath as she hurriedly got back inside and turned to Hyperion who was wincing in pain. "You have more bullets?"

"At... at the compartment," he replied with gritted teeth. He had a lot of questions running in his mind, especially after watching the woman hold the gun with such ease and even asked for more bullets as if she was just asking for a beer refill. However, their current situation was not the perfect time for a conversation.

She, then, noticed some blood dripping from his forearm. But there was no time for her to tend to his wound so she simply grabbed the bullets from the compartment and told herself that shaking off their pursuers was the main priority. Taking a few deep breaths, she turned behind and faced the second van of their attackers.

"We're making a sharp turn!" Hyperion claimed to alert her.

Keeping that in mind, Shantala held onto the window as tight as she could and when they made the sharp turn, she immediately showed herself and fired several bullets on the van's wheels to make sure to burst them and outrun their pursuers. She did manage to damage the front wheel causing the van to slow down and she was much relieved that she was not shot to death.

Sitting back in her seat, her shoulders went up and down as her heart felt like it was trying to burst out from her chest. It has been a while since she last held a gun and made such a dangerous encounter but it seemed that her body still remembered her training back then. But looking at her hand holding the gun, she knew she was shaking. Though, she could not tell if it was out of fear of almost losing her life or if it was out of excitement to feel her adrenaline rush getting ahead of her just like before.

Now that they shook off those masked men, the two of them felt relieved despite the tension between them.

"How's your wound?" Shantala asked to break the silence. And who knows? If she acts nice towards him, he might spare her.

"How did you learn to use a gun?" Hyperion asked instead of answering her question.

She had no plans to reveal who she used to be since she already promised herself to abandon her life as an assassin. Ever since the last incident when Klauss abandoned her, she swore to never involve herself again in such dangerous situations. And not to mention, there was still that particular memory she had forgotten and did not want to ever remember again.

Besides, she was also worried that if he found out that she was Luna, an assassin, he might see her as an enemy even more. It was for the reason that she could have actually killed some of his men before... though, she was not a hundred percent sure if she encountered him before.

But either way, her life being a Luna should never be known.

“I just learned it from watching action movies,” she lied.